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The cable length is mentioned in tech specs but few would deliberately visit that site to get information about the device they are about to purchase.

If cable length is so important to the buyer that they would post a rant on a forum if they didn't get the length they wanted, I'd have assumed they would've dug a little deeper before making the purchase vs. just assuming. But even then, what are they going to do? Just refuse to buy the iPad because it doesn't include a 2m cable they could buy for less than $10 online? 😂

Even a simple AI search comes up with this info

Screenshot 2025-11-07 at 11.13.23.png
 
Just bought the M5 Pro and I cannot believe they are shipping this thing with a 1 meter USB-C cable when the device costs $1,300. They ship far cheaper MacBook Air’s with a 2 meter charging cable.

If you want to charge this thing and still use it you must be extremely close to an outlet. I should not have to think about this with a device so expensive.
Curious. Is it that you are mad that you only got a "1 meter" cable with your $1300 device or do you genuinely need longer than 1 meter?

If you are so un happy about it, I would just return the device if you haven't already.
 
OP, could you please post your list of approved cable lengths for current devices (iPhone, iPad, MacBook)?

I want to make sure I am in compliance.

I have thrown out all the third party cables of various lengths. It was foolish of me to consider that a solution.
 
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If cable length is so important to the buyer that they would post a rant on a forum if they didn't get the length they wanted, I'd have assumed they would've dug a little deeper before making the purchase vs. just assuming. But even then, what are they going to do? Just refuse to buy the iPad because it doesn't include a 2m cable they could buy for less than $10 online? 😂

Even a simple AI search comes up with this info

The rant was sharing a point of view, something forums like this one are used for all the time. It was also a point of view backed up by examples of how Apple does include 2 meter cables with every laptop they sell, but the iPad Pro which is sold at a price comparable to a MacBook Pro, and marketed as a computer, does not.

You can just buy a 2 meter cable for a few bucks. Or you can needlessly complain about it, your choice. Some people like myself prefer the 1 meter cable for the iPad. Sorry, can't make everyone happy.
Did you convince yourself that complaining about the complaining is somehow superior to the initial complaint?

Does everyone not have a plethora of cables already? Or is this the first device being bough in someone's life?
I do have a plethora of 1 meters cables, and that is precisely why I was annoyed I didn’t get a 2 meter cable with the iPad Pro.

OP, could you please post your list of approved cable lengths for current devices (iPhone, iPad, MacBook)?

I want to make sure I am in compliance.

I have thrown out all the third party cables of various lengths. It was foolish of me to consider that a solution.

Does Apple market the iPad as more of a computer or more like a phone? I’ll let you answer that first question for yourself after you think about that for a moment.

I don't have cables just strewn about my house. I only have cables that came with our iPhones, and my wife has a MacBook Air, but that has a 2 meter MagSafe connector, so not helpful with an iPad.
 
Just bought the M5 Pro and I cannot believe they are shipping this thing with a 1 meter USB-C cable when the device costs $1,300. They ship far cheaper MacBook Air’s with a 2 meter charging cable.

If you want to charge this thing and still use it you must be extremely close to an outlet. I should not have to think about this with a device so expensive.
This has long been a pet peeve of mine. Same with the Apple Watch - even the Ultra, with a short 1 meter cable that barely reaches from my desk to an outlet — even a powerstrip positioned closer to my desk! It was the same thing with the last magsafe charger. Barely long enough to reach my phone from any outlet! This time at least there was a 2 meter option (maybe it was previously available when I last upgraded, I don't remember). But, truly, ANYTHING to upcharge us for a slightly longer cable, completely ridiculous considering the device costs.
 
My AVP only came with a 1.5m charging cable. Based on your logic I should be hopping mad or something.
I'd say that was also an oversight, unless you can't use the AVP while it is charging? I don't know, as I don't have one (I'll wait until at least the 3rd or 4th gen at this point...if the device survives that long. Not going to spend $4K on something that may be killed off prematurely).
The issue with an iPad is that (like a laptop!) you may need to use it while it is connected to power. Rather than having to wait for it to charge and taking a 2+ hour break from your activities on the ipad.
 
The $1200 Galaxy Tab Ultra comes with a 3ft cable too. The Galaxy Book5 comes with a 7ft cable. Almost as if there is some logic to how companies decide which length of cable they include with their devices based on the intended use cases. Good thing there is a massive selection of third party accessories so you can make your device work exactly how you want it too. If anything this just seems like a complaint about having to spend another $20 on a cable after spending $1200 on a tablet.
I have to agree with Bear, if there IS a 'logic' determining only a 1 meter 'use-case' as ideal for a tablet, then I find it faulty when considering tablet vs a phone intended usage.

I would class a tablet as being more laptop-like in use scenarios, vs a phone, which is decidedly intended for battery 99% of the time (and even then, I would just pop on a magnetic external battery if on the go or desperate to keep using the phone without being tied to an outlet).
So maybe it is their logic that one doesn't need or want to be plugged-in, or maybe it is penny-pinching. I'm no longer inclined to give Apple (or their competitors) the benefit of the doubt after so many years of this type of calculation to increase the ARPU.
 
But a lot of fun. Both were new, certainly radically new technologies, wildly new software (VisiCalc anyone?), incredible 5 ¼” flexible floppy drives and disks that fit both computers, and the PC was first to offer a huge 10MB (that “M” as in “Mega”) hard drive for just under $1000 (almost $4000 in today’s dollars). Let’s not forget also the huge and weighty parallel cables that connected stuff.

And my current M4 iMac mini has two 8TB (with a “T” as in “Tera”) external drives that cost $135 each.

But the Apple II+ and IBM PC both worked, and I learned BASIC and Pascal. Fun times for sure.
I remember...I was thrilled with my Mac Classic II (in 1991) with an 80MB hard drive AND 4MB RAM(!). 😂
I don't even remember what I paid for it back then. Just that it was amazing for a home computer to me at that time.
 
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I'm new to this thread and admittedly haven't read prior comments, but has anyone considered whether iPads should ship with six-meter cables?
 
I have to agree with Bear, if there IS a 'logic' determining only a 1 meter 'use-case' as ideal for a tablet, then I find it faulty when considering tablet vs a phone intended usage.

I would class a tablet as being more laptop-like in use scenarios, vs a phone, which is decidedly intended for battery 99% of the time (and even then, I would just pop on a magnetic external battery if on the go or desperate to keep using the phone without being tied to an outlet).
So maybe it is their logic that one doesn't need or want to be plugged-in, or maybe it is penny-pinching. I'm no longer inclined to give Apple (or their competitors) the benefit of the doubt after so many years of this type of calculation to increase the ARPU.

You're trying to find logic when there is none.

Many of the replies in this thread are simply deflections from apologists.

The first photo in the press release shows iPad Pro in desktop mode, so it's clear how Apple intends people to use it. The battery life of iPad Pro is 10h compared to 18-24h for MacBook Air/Pro.

So what's the logic? iPad Pro owners always have receptacles closer to table height?

1762558909415.png
 
The rant was sharing a point of view, something forums like this one are used for all the time. It was also a point of view backed up by examples of how Apple does include 2 meter cables with every laptop they sell, but the iPad Pro which is sold at a price comparable to a MacBook Pro, and marketed as a computer, does not.


Did you convince yourself that complaining about the complaining is somehow superior to the initial complaint?


I do have a plethora of 1 meters cables, and that is precisely why I was annoyed I didn’t get a 2 meter cable with the iPad Pro.



Does Apple market the iPad as more of a computer or more like a phone? I’ll let you answer that first question for yourself after you think about that for a moment.

I don't have cables just strewn about my house. I only have cables that came with our iPhones, and my wife has a MacBook Air, but that has a 2 meter MagSafe connector, so not helpful with an iPad.
Ahh, calling out people who complain is complaining now. Go write a letter to Tim Cook, I'm sure he will personally send you a 2 meter cable to right Apple's wrongdoing to you.
 
not in the place where customer purchases their iPad, and that’s my point. This thread may be silly but it shows how Apple is slowly cutting costs on almost every aspect of their product shipment. From harmless “one fewer sticker” to shorter charging cable. I’m sure soon there will be no charging cable came with brand new device and good luck for Apple prompting users that there will be no charging accessories in the product box.
I bought my iPad from Best Buy. They sell 2m cords for $12.

Pretty sure the length of the charging cord has always been 1m with iPads.
 
The rant was sharing a point of view, something forums like this one are used for all the time. It was also a point of view backed up by examples of how Apple does include 2 meter cables with every laptop they sell, but the iPad Pro which is sold at a price comparable to a MacBook Pro, and marketed as a computer, does not.

I just think it's such a minor complaint (with a super easy and cheap solution) to label as "utterly ridiculous" - and that's why you're getting pushback. "Man, I sure wish the iPad Pros came with longer cables" and then explaining your reasoning would've probably avoided a lot of the pushback.
 
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My experience at least, is that I plug in my iPad when I need to charge it, and for the rest of the day, and typically using my iPad at a spot which is pretty far away from my charging outlets such as my living room sofa or the classroom (to the point where even a 2m cable would not be long enough, nor do I want long cables snaking across my living room either).

I guess in this context, a shorter cable suits me just fine because I don't want a longer cable cluttering my desk, and a longer cable isn't going to result in any meaningful improvement to my overall charging experience.
 
Just bought the M5 Pro and I cannot believe they are shipping this thing with a 1 meter USB-C cable when the device costs $1,300. They ship far cheaper MacBook Air’s with a 2 meter charging cable.

If you want to charge this thing and still use it you must be extremely close to an outlet. I should not have to think about this with a device so expensive.
Wow. Six pages of comments about the length of a charging cable. I thought there might be like 3 responses, but obviously I was wrong. Under the premise that "all news is good news" from a marketing standpoint, maybe Apple should do such things more often.
 
Well, at least it comes in black too, if you get a black (space grey?) ipad. /s

I was pretty disappointed at the length as well. Especially when considering the battery running time which is not great compared to my the ipads i had before. (Ipad 1 > air 2 > air 3 > pro M5).

You can't even order a longer one in black (or reorder the shorter one). And one could mistakenly think that a usb-c cable that comes with a device with a 40Gbps Usb-C port (and even on it's own sells at €25) would at least be a little faster than 0.48Gbps on a good day.

And yes, there were longer cables, once upon a time. The original iPad came with a 10W power adapter that had an 1,8m detachable cable running to the outlet (think older macbook power adapters but in the size of an old iphone wallwart) plus an usb to 30-pin cable from the adapter to the ipad that was even 1,5m long, iirc.
 
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Wow. Six pages of comments about the length of a charging cable. I thought there might be like 3 responses, but obviously I was wrong. Under the premise that "all news is good news" from a marketing standpoint, maybe Apple should do such things more often.
Just go one step further and don’t include a charging cable whatsoever. Dunno how this will pan out but sure it will be very fun to see.
 
It doesn't seem plausible at all. The quoted battery life from Apple is 10 hours for iPad Pro. It was 10 hours in 2015 and 10 hours in 2025.

In fact, the new Magic Keyboard has a USB-C pass-through charging port, so it's clear Apple recognizes many people use their iPad Pro plugged in.

There's all sorts of explanations we can dream up, like "logistics" and Apple not understanding their own product. But the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.
My suggestion wasn’t about battery life, it was about the entire UX. Apple entered slightly new territory when they made the large tablet, so my argument was that it wouldn’t surprise me if they didn’t exactly correctly predict its general usage—like not knowing if people would be holding it in hand more or using it with a keyboard more, doing more demanding applications with it or just consumption. They seemed to have misjudged other first generation products’ usage before so we know they make mistakes. That’s why I think it’s a plausibility.

The iPad Pro doesn’t come with the Magic Keyboard so I don’t see it making sense to argue that Apple should package a cable with the iPad that’s meant to be used with the MK. The iPad cable should be meant for the iPad. So if anything, this is an argument that the MK should include the 2m cable. That would make a bit more sense to me than OP’s argument, because again, even though Apple advertises that the iPad can be a laptop of sorts, it still sells it as a tablet.

Again, I’m not saying my suggestion definitely happened and Apple has the purest of intentions. I tend not to assume anything about intentions if I don’t have to, because it’s so easy to get something like that wrong. All I ever usually say in these forums (and not just in these forums and not just about Apple) is that a lot of the accusations people make are too quick and come directly from a place of bias, and so they often overlook or brush off considerations that they shouldn’t if fairness/rationality is a goal. It is a goal for me. Things always seem simple on the surface but are usually much more complicated underneath, as science proves continually. And there’s just so much information we aren’t privy to. And when it comes to intention, it can even be a mixed answer. That’s why I think of and allow for plausible explanations other than Apple’s greed being the fall back single explanation for every decision that a customer or a group of customers doesn’t like. I’m sure Apple wants as much profit as they can obtain, and I’m sure that can sometimes fall under greed as some people would define it, but always making someone or a group of people out to be one dimensional doesn’t ever turn out to be true in my experience. It’s too simplistic. I know being a moderate isn’t popular in this day and age, but I find that to be the most accurate way to view the world.
 
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